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British
Rail and Nationalisation
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RAILWAY BRITAIN |
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British Transport Commission (BTC) Nationalisation
also marked a separation of railway
ancillary activities such as hotels, docks & shipping, police etc
from the
railways under the auspices of the British Transport Commission. The
BTC came
into operation on 1st January 1948. Its first chairman was Lord
Hurcomb, with
Miles Beevor as Chief Secretary. Its main holdings were the networks
and assets
of the Big Four railway companies. It also took over 55 other railway
undertakings, 19 canal undertakings and 246 road haulage firms, as well
as the
work of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was already
publicly owned.
The nationalisation package also included the fleets of 'private owner
wagons',
which industrial concerns had used to transport goods on the railway
networks. The BTC
was one of the largest industrial
organisations in the world, at one time employing nearly 688,000
people. At
first, the Commission did not directly operate transport services -
these were
the responsibility of the Commission's Executives. These were
separately
appointed, and operated under what were termed 'schemes of delegation'.
The Act
provided for five Executives, covering Docks & Inland Waterways,
Hotels,
London Transport, Railways, and Road Transport. The Railway Executive
traded as
"British Railways". In 1949, Road Transport was divided into separate
Road Haulage and Road Passenger Executives, though the latter proved
short-lived. The
Commission's extensive activities included: ·
Advertising:
British Transport Advertising sold space on premises and vehicles ·
Buses:
the Tilling Group sold its bus interests to the BTC in September 1948,
as did
the Red & White Group in 1950. Midland General buses and
trolleybuses were
transferred by the British Electricity Authority. From the railway
companies,
the BTC also inherited non-controlling interests in many bus companies
in the
British Electric Traction Group. It also manufactured buses for its own
use,
through the subsidiaries Bristol Commercial Vehicles and Eastern Coach
Works.
In London and the surrounding area, the BTC ran both the (red) London
buses and
the (green) country buses, including Green Line Coaches. ·
Docks:
British Transport Docks (today known as Associated British Ports),
comprising
32 ports taken over from the railway companies. ·
Films:
the BTC had its own film production company, British Transport Films. ·
Hotels
& Catering: the former
railway hotels and catering
departments, later re-organised as British Transport Hotels ·
Museums:
The BTC inherited the LNER's Railway Museum at York and appointed a
Curator of
Historical Relics to build up a national collection. Eventually, much
of this
collection was displayed at the Museum of British Transport at Clapham,
south
London. This closed in the early 1970s and was superseded by the
National
Railway Museum at York and the London Transport Museum (now in Covent
Garden).
The BTC also established the Stoke Bruerne Canal Museum. ·
Police:
the British Transport Police was formed chiefly by the amalgamation of
the
various railway constabularies ·
Railways:
British Railways, including ancillary activities like engineering
workshops,
and London Underground. The former LMS (Northern Counties Committee)
lines in
Northern Ireland were sold to the Ulster Transport Authority in 1949. ·
Road
Haulage: the local road
distribution networks of the
pre-nationalisation rail companies, plus the removals company
Pickfords, which
the railways had owned jointly. To these were added numerous smaller
independent concerns taken over at nationalisation, comprising all
undertakings
predominantly engaged in ordinary long-distance work for distances of
40 miles
or upwards. These networks were later re-organised as British Road
Services
(BRS). ·
Shipping:
the former railway steamer services, primarily to France and Ireland
and around
the Scottish coast, and investments in Associated Humber Lines and the
Atlantic
Steam Navigation Company ·
Tramways:
the South London tramways of London Transport, all of which were
abandoned by
the 5th July 1952 · Waterways: canals and navigable rivers, mainly taken over from canal companies, like the Grand Union Canal Company, but also including those bought out earlier by the pre-nationalisation railways. The Caledonian Canal was already State-owned. The canals are today run by British Waterways. As well as the canal infrastructure, BTC also managed canal carrying services. By the
late 1950s the BTC was in serious financial
difficulties, largely due to the economic performance of the railways.
It was
criticised as an overly bureaucratic system of administering transport
services
and had failed to develop an integrated transport system (such as
integrated
ticketing and timetabling). It was abolished by Harold Macmillan's
Conservative
government under the Transport Act 1962 and replaced by five successor
bodies: ·
the British Railways Board (railways,
hotels
and some shipping) ·
the British Transport Docks Board (docks) ·
the British Waterways Board (inland
waterways) · the Transport Holding Company (remaining interests, in shipping, travel and road transport) These changes took effect on the 1st January 1963. Notwithstanding the abolition of the BTC, the British Transport Police continues to exist. The BTC heraldic shield is still displayed on the BTP badge. Thus under nationalisation the railways were divided from many of their ancillary activities.
British Rail (BR) British
Railways was created by nationalisation of the
Big Four railway companies in 1948 under the Transport Act 1947. This
period of
nationalisation saw massive changes in the railway network: steam
traction was
eliminated in favour of diesel and electric power, passengers replaced
freight
as the main source of business, and the network was severely
rationalised. At
first British Railways was the brand name for the Railway Executive
part of the
British Transport Commission but in 1962 it became a separate public
corporation
as the British Railways Board. BR had a devolved management structure
and was
divided into regions broadly representing the Big Four railways and
later
adapted on a geographical basis. This structure lasted until the 1980s
when it
was replaced by sectors. The
priority in the immediate aftermath of
nationalisation was to repair wartime damage and clear the backlog of
maintenance work. Some pre-war capital investment schemes that had
stopped upon
the outbreak of hostilities were restarted (e.g. the
Manchester-Sheffield-Wath
electrification over the Woodhead route and the Great Eastern suburban
electrification). In 1951 BR started building its “Standard” steam
locomotives,
along with new standard passenger and freight rolling stock. At the
same time
attempts were made to standardise other engineering standards and
operating
standards across the organisation wherever possible. So standardisation
was a
key achievement of British Rail. The 1955
Modernisation Plan took Britain's railways a
major step forward with widespread dieselisation, electrification and
modernisation of rolling stock and signalling. Although there were
significant
mistakes under the Modernisation Plan it did have its successes. Then
there was
the major rationalisation of the railway network as the result of the
Beeching
Report and the infamous Beeching Axe. This was a significant
achievement and
set the railways on a firm foundation for their future. However there
were
significant mistakes made by the Beeching Axe whose legacy lives on
even today. BR also
transformed rail freight with the
establishment of Freightliner container trains, Merry-go-Round coal
trains and
other trainload services to meet changing circumstances and the needs
of
industry and other customers. British
Rail also embraced the multiple unit
revolution by introducing diesel multiple units and electric multiple
units
across the country for passenger services on many local, regional and
rural
routes. This helped transform services and thus safeguard the future of
these
lifeline routes especially in isolated rural areas. This revolution
went so far
as to make locomotive hauled trains a rarity outside freight and
intercity
services. British
Rail then in 1968 created a clear corporate
identity and was re-branded British
Rail. This re-branding introduced the double-arrow logo, the
standardised
typeface (known as “Rail Alphabet”) used for all communications and
signs; and
the "rail blue" livery, which was applied to nearly all locomotives
and rolling stock. From 1958
to 1974 the West Coast Main Line was
electrified in stages on the French system of 25 kV AC overhead line
electrification, this having been chosen as the standard system for new
electrification north of London. Many commuter lines around London and
Glasgow
were also electrified, and the Southern Region extended its already
extensive
pre-war 750 V DC third rail system to the Kent and Dorset coasts. A major
achievement in the 1970s and early 80s was the
introduction of the Intercity 125 High Speed Trains (HST). These
transformed
rail travel on the Great Western Main Line and later the East Coast
Main Line,
Midland Main Line and Cross Country. Soon the HST had truly caught the
travelling public's imagination, thanks in part to a memorable
telelvision advertising
campaign fronted by Jimmy Savile, together with the advertising
strap-line
"This Is The Age Of The Train".
BR enjoyed a boom in patronage on the routes operated by the HSTs, and
InterCity's profits jumped accordingly - with cross-subsidisation in
turn
safeguarding the future of rural routes BR also
took the railways into the computer age, in
1973 by the introduction of the TOPS system which was a computer system
managing the whole of the railway's operations. Then in the 1980s the
introduction of the APTIS (Accountancy and Passenger Ticket Issuing System), replaced the Edmondson
ticket that had been used since the 1840s and revolutionised railway
ticketing
and brought into the modern age. The East
Coast Main Line was electrified in stages
between 1987 and 1990. For this route the InterCity
225 was introduced and is the fastest loco-hauled domestic train in the
UK,
comprising a Class 91 electric locomotive, and 9 Mark 4 coaches and a
Driving
Van Trailer. These revolutionised travel on the East Coast Main Line
and continue to be a
great success. Thameslink,
a crossrail connecting the northern and
southern halves of London's suburban network then opened in 1988; and
the
Chiltern Line was also extensively modernised so as to open up an
additional
link between London and Birmingham. BR's final
great achievement was the opening of the
Channel Tunnel and the inauguration of the Eurostar high speed service
from
London to Paris and Brussels in 1994 in partnership with SNCF and SNCB
via its
European Passenger Services division. However
the British Rail era was marked by a series of
privatisations as various ancillary operations of the railways were
hived off
and privatised. From its shipping operations and hotels to its railway
works
everything was divested off and privatised. Sadly this culminated in
the phased
privatisation of British Rail itself between 1994 and 1997. Thus today
British Rail is no more and the railways
are fragmented and privatised while still remaining under significant
Government regulation. British Rail was a period of great change,
modernisation
and transformation for the railways as they adapted to the modern age
with the
introduction of diesel and electric trains, the disappearance of steam,
computerisation of ticketing and management systems. However this
period also
marked a fragmentation of the railways as their ancillary activities
were
divested off and eventually privatised. Today the ancillary activities
are
gone, and all that remains is the railway. Thus British Rail and its ancillary services, become another of Britain's national institutions that disappeared as a result of privatisation and the impact of globalisation. It is the end of a glorious era as traditional structures are swept away by privatisation and globalisation. BRB (Residuary) Ltdwww.brb.gov.uk Property Review Group http://railprg.org.uk Department for Transport (DfT) www.dft.gov.uk Transport Scotland www.transportscotland.gov.uk Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) www.rail-reg.gov.uk Network Rail www.networkrail.co.uk Spacia www.spacia.co.uk National Rail www.nationalrail.co.uk Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) www.atoc.org Railway Heritage Committee www.railwayheritage.org.uk Railway Pensions Management Ltd www.railwaypensions.co.uk British Transport Pensioners Federation www.btpf.org.uk Railway Convalescent Centre www.rch.org.uk The Railway Friendly Society www.railwayfs.co.uk The Retired Railway Officers Society www.rros.org.uk
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